Ruby Information
Ranging in colour from a deep blood red to a light pink colour rubies are really sapphires that happen to be red. The most celebrated source of these wonderful and dramatic gemstones is the northern, Myawmar region of Burma. However, other areas in South East Asia, Tanzania and Kenya also mine rubies. In the 19th centuary they were considered more valuable than diamonds though this has now changed.
Their birthstone is July and over the years they have come be associated with the qualities of love enthusiasm and strength, probably because of their intense colour. It is therefore clear why they are an ever increasing choice for all kinds of rings, including eternity rings.
Ruby's chemical composition is aluminium oxide which is also called corundum (this is the same as sapphires) but it is the presence of impurities such as chromium oxide and iron oxide which gives ruby's their colour. Varying amounts and types of impuries will cause different shades and depths of colour.
Rubies are given a hardness of 9 out of 10, where 10 is the hardest stone, diamond.
As rubies and sapphires are chemically the same stone, there is no distinct division between rubies and pink sapphires but normally a ruby that has a particularly pink hue is known as a pink sapphire.
